Last Updated on October 1, 2019, 9:30 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The opposition St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party has issued a statement condemning the ongoing attempts by Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris to exclude nationals who are registered on the Voters List and who live overseas from participating in upcoming elections in St. Kitts and Nevis.
In the statement on Monday, the SKNLP noted that at a Forum for St. Kitts-Nevis nationals held in New York on September 26th, the Prime Minister lamented that the Register of Voters has more voters than there are people of voting age in the Federation.
“What the Prime Minister who has been involved in electoral politics since 1993 (over 26 years ago) ought to know, is that since 1984, nationals of St Kitts and Nevis who live overseas, have been able to register to vote in Federal and Nevis Island Administration elections.
“The effect of that reality is that the number of voters on the Electoral List does not correlate to the number of persons of voting age resident in the Federation. Rather, it correlates to the number of persons both at home and abroad who have registered to vote,” the SKNLP statement said.
It added that the SKNLP “views the Prime Minister’s statements as part of a sinister plot to disenfranchise overseas nationals of St Kitts and Nevis. It makes no sense to claim that the number of voters on the Electoral List should reflect the number of persons resident in the Federation when our laws permit the registration of non-resident nationals. In our estimation, the Prime Minister really intends to remove the names of the overseas nationals from the Electoral List to further his narrow political agenda,” the SKNLP said in the statement.
The SKNLP noted that on September 2nd, the government was forced under public pressure to completely withdraw the proposed National Assembly Elections (Amendment) Bill that sought to remove the names of overseas voters from the Electoral List.
“No sooner had that happened the Prime Minister has again initiated the conversation about removing the overseas voters from the Electoral list. This crass politics must stop,” said the statement.
“The St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party is also appalled at the conduct of the Prime Minister who insists on using taxpayers’ money to undertake what are clearly partisan political meetings overseas. The forum for nationals of St Kitts and Nevis held in New York on Thursday was by every measure a political meeting staged by the Prime Minister at the expense of St Kitts and Nevis taxpayers,” said the statement.
It gave an undertaking, once in office, “to protect the right of our overseas nationals to participate in democratic elections in the country of their belonging. Further, the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party will enact legislation that prevents the wanton abuse of taxpayers’ dollars on partisan political activity,” said the statement.
The SKNLP is the largest single party in St. Kitts and Nevis, gaining 11,897 votes in the February 16th 2015 General Elections. The People’s Action Movement (PAM), received 8,452 votes, the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) 3,951 votes; the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP), 3,276 votes and the People’s Labour Party (PLP), 2,723 votes.
Seatwise in the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly, the PAM holds 4 seats, the SKNLP, 3 seats, the CCM, two seats and the NRP and the PLP, 1 seat each.
The SKNLP, PAM and PLP did not field candidates in Nevis and the NRP and CCM did not field candidates in St. Kitts.
The government is a coalition of the PLP, CCM and PAM.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
